


A Trick of the Light

by SouthSideStory



Category: Star Wars Sequel Trilogy
Genre: Dark Side Rey, F/M, The Rise of Skywalker spoilers, Trailer Spoilers
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2019-08-27
Updated: 2019-08-27
Packaged: 2020-09-27 14:14:52
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 942
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/20409109
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/SouthSideStory/pseuds/SouthSideStory
Summary: She was so close to having him, to having it all—power, truth, and knowledge, but most of all, love.That was what had been promised."Serve me," the Emperor had said, "and Kylo will be yours."





	A Trick of the Light

**Author's Note:**

> Big fat spoiler warning! This little piece is based off of the Star Wars reel that played at D23 and was released this morning.

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The dark side had always felt cold to Rey—cave water, snow in the air, the ocean at night—but this was warm. Passion, fury, need. Her lightsaber alive in her hands, crackling and unstable and red. Like Kylo's. She was like him in so many ways now, and it was good. It was _right_. They had always been complementary, puzzle pieces made to fit together, but she'd been so stubborn. Clinging to the light when she'd been made for the darkness—with him.

Kylo stood before her, his own saber quiet on his belt. He frowned, a muscle working below his mouth. A tell: he didn't like seeing her this way.

Blue moonlight peeked through the clouds, shining off the walls of the temple in slithering undulations. Black stone around and below them, a midnight sky above.

"What happened to you?" he asked.

Rey almost laughed. What a question.

White liquor had happened to her, clear as water but far more demanding; her parents had drunk too much of it, until they had none left, until they had nothing at all. Except for a ship and her, a little girl with a strong back, not good for much besides eating up money that they could drink with. So they'd sold her, their child, and hadn't looked back.

The desert had happened to her. The desert had been her mother, more so than the woman who'd given birth to her. It had taught her harsh lessons and given her a bed of sand to sleep on. When the portions had been hard to come by and the water had run dry, it was the desert that had provided for Rey, the way her blood mother never had.

Destiny had happened to her. The Force, crafty and strange, yet oddly predictable in the circles it drew, the tales it spun. Energy, tension, a balance. _Power_, though Luke had tried to lie to her and say otherwise. The Force was a great power, and Rey could feel it flowing through her now, hot and cold at once, like fire with ice at its heart.

All of this was true, but she said, "_You_ happened to me," because that was the truth that mattered most.

Kylo flinched.

Rey extinguished her saber, the long staff still warm in her hands, and said, "We don't have to fight. We can be on the same side now."

If he would only bow to the emperor, as he should, as he must. As they all would, someday.

Rey folded her saber in half and hooked it on her belt. This could be very easy, if only he'd make it so.

"Do you remember Naboo?" he asked.

Rey's head jerked to the side, a reflexive violence, trying to shake off the memories. Of Ben lying next to her in a green field, dusk warming the horizon in gold, their bodies still sweat-damp from their lovemaking. The world had been dizzying and drunken that evening, as if she'd indulged in the kind of liquor that had made her a slave. But it was only love and light that she'd been drunk on.

Before he'd left. Because they couldn't have been together beyond such a simple rendezvous. Jedi and Jedi Killer. Resistance hero and Supreme Leader of the First Order. They'd fit perfectly, even then, but their circumstances had not.

"Let the past die," Rey said. "Kill it, if you have to." She stepped closer and held out her hand to him. "This is what I'm meant to be. And you should be here, alongside me. You were right about that part, Kylo. We're supposed to be together."

He took off his right glove, slowly, hesitantly, same as he had that night in her hut on Ahch-To, revealing one strong, inelegant hand. Now, as then, Rey felt tears on her cheeks. Close. She was so close to having him, to having it all—power, truth, and knowledge, but most of all, love.

That was what had been promised.

_Serve me_, the Emperor had said, _and Kylo will be yours._

No more prayers to the light for a redemption Kylo refused. No more sleepless nights, spent wishing for his strong body by her side. She'd grown up starved, empty bellied and empty hearted, hungry for love—and now it would be hers. _He_ would be hers.

Kylo walked closer, each step stealing the space between them, until finally he stood before her. Rather than taking her hand, he cupped her cheek, and there it was again, that heat. Kylo's bare skin on her own, like on Naboo, and yet utterly different. There was no light in this, only a fire made of shadows that blazed with his touch.

"I love you," Kylo whispered, his brown eyes overwet in the darkness.

Their chains were broken, they were free, and the rest of the world could burn.

"I love you," he said again, his voice shaking. Soft, broken, so weak. "But this isn't you."

Kylo jerked away before Rey could fully register it, and it was instinct that brought her lightsaber back to her hands.

No. _No!_ This wasn't what was supposed to happen. This wasn't what was promised.

"I love you," Kylo said, for a third time, but he was a liar. He was just like _them_, the ones who had wanted a bottle more than they had wanted her. "I won't let you go this way, Rey."

Fury roared through her, a wildfire burning through her love.

Rey raised her lightsaber to meet his, sparking red to sparking red, one broken energy barred by another.

Let him stop her, then. If he could.

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End file.
